


Vox A.D.

by XellyChan



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, F/M, Mildly Mass Effectish, Phone Calls & Telephones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 15:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17428580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XellyChan/pseuds/XellyChan
Summary: "I wanted to hear your voice and see your face." He says, honest. The words feel like stars in her chest, bright and dense across the light years separating them.In the backdrop of stars, a phone call.





	Vox A.D.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jafndaegur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jafndaegur/gifts).



> For the sitBoy discord Secret Santa.
> 
> I love Space AUs, and I love world-building, so this nearly became a whole NANO in scope. I managed, just barely, to stop myself. But who knows, I have the notes, I may come back to this au and really develop plot points. For now, though, I think it's fine as a standalone.

The notification chime Kagome set for Sesshoumaru's messages tinkles brightly just as she steps out of the stasis chamber. After being suspended weightless for the past couple of hours, the feeling of the plush carpet beneath her feet is jarringly decadent, but she doesn't dwell on the sensation as long as she usually does during her post chamber wind down. Instead, she hits the receive button on the communication terminal before it can reach its last ring, Sesshoumaru's solemn face flickering into view on the holo-screen.   
  
Kagome runs her fingers self consciously through her messy, static frizzed hair but smiles happily none the less, "Hey you, I wasn't expecting your call for a couple of weeks." She rocks on her heels, peeking at his image as subtly as she can, checking him over to make sure he's all in one piece. Not that the stubborn old war dog would let himself look anything but presentable, even out in the middle of an asteroid field.   
  
"The base we've docked at is more hospitable than previously expected. As it's within the reach of the Western Sector, there's little issue with the surrounding territories, meaning we made it ahead of schedule." Sesshoumaru says, prim in his dress blues. But Kagome can see the faint lines of exhaustion beneath his eyes, the quiet strain in his voice that isn't stellar interference distorting the audio.   
  
Kagome stifles the worry before it bleeds into her expression. "The merits of being out in the boonies and walking around with a big stick," she quips. Kagome would rather feign flippancy than have Sesshoumaru work himself up over her mother henning habits. She doubts he even has the energy. "Why did they even have you out there, anyway? So you can micromanage the centuries-old satellites? Don't they know that old saying, something about dogs and sleeping?"  
  
His expression hardly changes but Kagome can _feel_ Sesshoumaru's exasperation through the terminal, so she giggles, hiding her mirth behind her wrist. "It's not an ideal station, no." He relents, which if nothing else proves Sesshoumaru's exhaustion. "However, I cannot go against the General's direct orders. At least, not his official ones."  
  
"The chain of command is indeed unforgiving, especially when it's coming from family," Kagome says, still amused but sympathetic. She reaches out towards the camera on the terminal, cupping the approximation of where his face might be. Her voice softens, "I miss you, you know."  
  
Sesshoumaru's stoic expression melts into the barest of fond smiles, some of the exhaustion clearing from his eyes. "I wanted to hear your voice and see your face." He says, honest. The words feel like stars in her chest, bright and dense across the light years separating them. "I couldn't even wait for the debriefing; I needed to call you as soon as we landed."  
  
A wet laugh escapes Kagome, her giggles mixing messily with her sniffles. "You big dork. Your dad and brother won't let you hear the end of it if you get tossed in the brig for calling your girlfriend before you're supposed to." She knuckles at her eyes, feeling tender and warm. Another call lights up her terminal, Kikyo's name overlaps Sesshoumaru's chin, the numbers stark, breaking up the illusion of closeness. Her smile dims, and even through the slightly grainy military screen on his end, Sesshoumaru must notice because his expression firms and his shoulders tense.  
  
"You have to go." He says.  
  
Kagome smiles wanly, nodding. If Kikyo is calling her directly, it must be serious, but even so, Kagome hesitates to end the call with Sesshoumaru. "I miss you," she tells him. "If you don't get scheduled shore leave soon, I'm staging a mutiny."  
  
Sesshoumaru picks up his peaked cap from off screen, dusting it off then pulling it on, the embroidered rank perfectly centered. With his saber at his hip, he looks like a dashing protagonist on a romance novella when he stands; his height barely kept in the holo frame. Kagome's heart flutters, always a little weak for a man in uniform. "I'll see you soon, Kagome."  
  
***  
The peacekeeper debrief, Kagome thinks, is never fun.  
  
"Higurashi," comes the Councilor's stern voice.  
  
Kikyo and Kagome both look up. Kagome with a reluctant cringe, and Kikyo with stoic grace. Kagome is scared of Ungai. A little bit. Not of him, exactly, but the way he thinks, and the lofty position of his office. Xenophobes shouldn't get to make decisions for others, but he does and he can, and a lot of times he's the reason why she has to keep the peace in the first place.   
  
"Yes?" Kikyo answers, dutiful.  
  
Kagome curls a lock of hair around her finger with nervous energy, belatedly hoping no strands get stuck in the joints of her armor gauntlets. "Which one?"   
  
Ungai ignores her, sitting stiff-backed behind his desk, his hands clasped and knuckles white where they rest over his paperwork. "We're expecting an issue with a delicate matter," He tells them gravely.  
  
Kikyo nods, equally grave, but Kagome stifles a sigh. When isn't there an issue be solved or a delicate matter to be handled, all hush-hush? It's always the same thing, high expectation after high expectation, all of it riding on the Higurashi family name.   
  
Like generation after generation, no one else thought maybe it'd be okay to pick another problem solver not related to one family bloodline.  "Who did we upset now?" She asks, wincing when the power grooves engraved into her gauntlets yank out a couple of hairs. "Please tell me it wasn't one of our tentative allies again, Mushin and Miroku will never forgive us if they have to bail us out again."  
  
Kikyo sends a pulse of power towards Kagome, the small blast hidden by their bodies. It sneaks between the gaps of ablative armor, hitting the thinner, flexible undersuit. Kagome to hisses and falls silent, pouting unhappily at the back of Kikyo's head, rubbing her tender side.  
  
"Shikon Station," Ungai says. "will play host to the captain of the Inutaisho dreadnought."   
  
Kagome perks up, the ache in her side forgotten. She wiggles in her seat, accidentally knocking her legs against Kikyo's, banging their armor together. "The General's son commands that ship." _Sesshoumaru_ commands that ship.   
  
Had it been that long already? She'd buried herself in work after the holo-call, following Kikyo to the docking bay and into their assigned ship, bolting from one warp-well to another. The weight of the Higurashi name is sometimes cumbersome when she drags it outside of the outer reaches of the Western sector as a peacekeeper. Their family name and all the history behind it meant the Higurashi's influence spanned far and wide, even outside of human colonies and sectors. A Higurashi's official station or office usually elevated no matter their rank on paper, all because of their name. That meant Kagome and Kikyo often had escort missions that quickly evolved outside of their scope.   
  
Kagome's mouth thins, remembering all the uncomfortable, uncalled for ventures in diplomacy that were technically above her pay grade. It was only years of Higurashi handed down lessons and Kikyo's expectant stare burning through her armor that kept Kagome from inciting an intergalactic incident some missions.  
  
But this.  
  
No one could take this from her. Not Sesshoumaru.   
  
Kagome slumped back in Ungai's uncomfortable, monastic chairs, tuning out the debrief and thinking back to Sesshoumaru's surprise call. He barely liked using coms or the wrist pad viewer, she knew. Inuyasha wouldn't stop griping about how hard it was to get ahold of his older brother. But still, he called her with a holo-vid, tired and worn from a long, deep space voyage. Kagome hid a smile in the collar of her suit and tuned Ungai out.   
  
He talked for an achingly long time, but finally, his paperwork became more pressing than his paranoia and he dismissed them. Kagome was the first to bounce out of her seat; clumsily saluting before escaping out into the hallway.  She winces when she feels Kikyo right on her heels, following her outside.  
  
Kikyo, of course, doesn't let Kagome go without a dressing down first. "You weren't paying attention," She says, always accusatory. Being the eldest cousin yet not the family successor had put Kikyo in a strange position, no ranks to climb but overachieving regardless. Though she rarely criticized Kagome in front of others, she could be worse than an etiquette tutor if she thought Kagome wasn't upholding the family name well enough. "There's no excuse for ignoring your superior, Kagome. Or backtalking them. It's improper."   
  
Kagome snorted, subtly checking her wrist pad for ship docking updates. "What's more improper? A peace councilor with xenophobia in this century or me wanting to take a bath and wash off the smell of rocket fuel asap?" She holds her hands up when Kikyo's expression doesn't lighten, smiling half-heartedly and backing away. "Don't make a scene, make the Youkai comfortable, but don't let the Youkai make off with any compromising scuttlebutt, yada, yada. Same as always."  
  
"That's--"  
  
Not letting Kikyo finish, Kagome already spun around and began sprinting down the metal and glass halls, waving blindly over her shoulder. "Fill me in later! I have a date!"  
  
Maybe not for another few hours, if not day cycles.  It doesn't stop Kagome from glancing at her wrist pad for updates or stretching her purity and senses to feel the deep, earthy pulse of Sesshoumaru's power against her's.   
  
***  
  
Kagome isn't the most patient.  
  
She thinks it's fairly obvious. No matter how much Kikyo scolds or her Miroku takes her hands in his and tells her to slow down, it's difficult for Kagome to sit and wait.   
  
She's no good at waiting even now, but she does it anyway because this time is important. Kagome sits, watching the crush of sentient life coming and going from the docking terminal, feeling the shudder and roar of ship thrusters despite dampening glass. Her purity swells around her in a gentle ebb and flow of power. Absently, she touches one passerby's aura then another's in the space of a breath, moving from one to the next. She slips into a state of semi meditation, always feeling for that _one_ energy above all others.   
  
A low murmur and shuffle came from some of the employees milling around, her wrist tool pinging with a monitoring protocol, picking up a transmission from an incoming ship. Outside on the observation deck, the closed arms of the Shikon's docking station began to open into geometric shards, the mechanisms grinding into place and reforming into a large bay. Kagome's heart leaped up in her chest, nervous energy flooding through her as she extended her senses out in an unconscious habit. Always searching for Sesshoumaru's presence, even if his ship was still outside of her range.   
  
Impatient, Kagome stands, impulsively deciding to abuse her power a little bit, just once. It's a special occasion. Free of her armor, Kagome still wore dress blues marking her station, name, and rank, so it was easy enough to breeze past the checkpoint and towards the docking station entrance. Only slowly long enough to nod at the employees and servicemen who saluted her on her way out. So close to the landing ports, Kagome could feel the shuttering ripple of the incoming ships, and then the Inutaisho came into view.   
  
It's hull glittering silver and vast as it slid in place into the Shikon's arms, graceful despite its size. "Ahhh, so punctual." Kagome laughs, running towards sealed doors leading to the docking bridges and hurriedly put in her clearance codes. She danced in place as the Shikon's arms closed around the Inutaisho, sealing the ship inside the safety of the station. Finally, her wrist pad and the doors chime as the pressure evens out and oxygen floods into the docks.   
  
Only barely restraining herself from throwing decorum completely out of the window, Kagome power walks up the bridge to the Inutaisho, grinning like mad when her purity finally, _finally_ , finds the energy she'd been looking for and missing all this time. The Inutaisho hisses as it's door opens, outstepping Sesshoumaru, as immaculate as ever with his cap tucked under his arm.   
  
His golden eyes catch her's, impossibly warm. "Looks like you won't have to stage a mutiny after all."  
  
"I dunno," Kagome says, throwing decorum out anyway and tugging Sesshoumaru close by his medals. "I think you and I would make pretty good space pirates."  
  
Sesshoumaru cups her jaw, leaning down to trace his nose against her cheekbone. His dry lips flutter a ghost of a kiss across her skin, raising goosebumps.  "I'm back."  
  
Kagome returns his chaste kiss to the jewel of his throat, and laughs, tears in her eyes.  "Welcome home."


End file.
